Alastair Senior, a 40-year-old man from New Zealand, was killed in gruesome fashion—decapitation—on a hovercraft test drive. Senior had been building his own hovercraft and was about to ride it for the first time when things got awry.

It's a terribly sad story. Senior used DIY instructions he got from the internet to build his own hovercraft. Excited to give it a test run, Senior took the hovercraft to the local beach to see what it could do. The problem with the craft, however, was that there was no guard cage for the blades. So if any of them malfunctioned and flew off, it could be incredibly dangerous. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. A blade had flown off and decapitated Senior from the back. He died instantly and even worse, his family and friends witnessed the entire scene.

The police say that Senior had "hovered" the hovercraft at home but this was the first time he was taking it out to the beach. He had already done several laps and was "extremely happy with the way it was operating" until tragedy struck. Senior is survived by his partner and three kids. [Stuff.co.nz, Image Credit: Marcel Jancovic / Shutterstock.com]